Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

When Confidence Crumbles

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Once again we awake to an array of seemingly contradictory news and reports across the spectrum. Whether it be Ebola, the financial markets, or just plain ordinary life in general. It seems everything is once again in turmoil.

The issue at hand is migrating from worrisome to darn right alarming. And that’s not counting the general public at large. That speaks directly to the very one’s trying to re-establish confidence.

Today, what was once presumed as “a troubling situation in competent hands.” Now appears more inline with the space between “in” and “competent” being a typo. (more…)

The Key to Success

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The stock below, KeyCorp, is a good short candidate in its own right, but it’s also representative of the kind of short I’m seeking these days. It has these elements:

+ a clean topping pattern;
+ a firm drop, exhibiting that it’s vulnerable to the general weakness we saw in past weeks;
+ a hearty bounce, pushing it to a more attractive risk/reward level.

As with so many other stocks, this one has a horizontal line anchored on a gap (in this instance, at a dollar value of $12.71) (more…)